The Türkentor (''Turks' Gate'') is a

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal ...

and gateway in

Helmstedt Helmstedt (; Eastphalian: ''Helmstidde'') is a town on the eastern edge of the German state of Lower Saxony. It is the capital of the District of Helmstedt. The historic university and Hanseatic city conserves an important monumental heritage o ...

in Lower Saxony in Germany. The main entrance to the former

St. Ludger's Abbey St. Ludger's Abbey () was a former monastery of the Benedictine Order in Helmstedt, Lower Saxony, founded by Saint Ludger around 800. Until it was German Mediatisation, secularised in 1802 it was an Imperial Abbey, with sovereignty over the whole t ...

and a gateway to the Domänenhof, the arch was built in 1716 to celebrate the victory over the Ottomans by

Prince Eugene of Savoy Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy-Carignano (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736), better known as Prince Eugene, was a distinguished Generalfeldmarschall, field marshal in the Army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty durin ...

at the

Battle of Petrovaradin The Battle of Petrovaradin also known as the Battle of Peterwardein, took place on 5 August 1716 during the Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718), Austro-Turkish War when the Ottoman army besieged the Habsburg-controlled fortress of Petrovaradin on ...

earlier that year, in which

Ferdinand Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Ferdinand Albert (German ''Ferdinand Albrecht''; 29 May 1680 (O.S.), Bevern,_Lower_Saxony, Bevern – 2 September 1735 (O.S.), Salzdahlum), Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, was an officer in the army of the Holy Roman Empire. He was prince of Brun ...

and

Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg Marshal Johann Matthias Reichsgraf von der Schulenburg (8 August 1661 – 14 March 1747) was a German aristocrat and general of Brandenburg-Prussian background who served in the Saxon and Venetian armies in the early 18th century and found a se ...

had also been instrumental. Originally sited in line with the Taubenhaus on what is now

Bundesstraße 1 The Bundesstraße 1 (abbr. B1) is a German federal highway running in an east-west direction from the Dutch border near Aachen to the Polish border at Küstrin-Kietz on the Oder River. History The road developed from an ancient east-wester ...

, it was severely damaged by bombing in the Second World War and resited to its present location in 1986. The main pediment bears the arms of the Habsburg emperor and the side-arches bear the arms of the abbey's abbot and prior, who had the arch built in celebration of the victory, of family connections to the House of Brunswick and of links between the abbey and the emperor. The architrave also bears the Roman numerals for the year 1716 and above the double

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s on either side are a sun (symbol of the Habsburg Empire) and a crescent moon (symbol of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

External links

* http://www.helmstedt-citytour.de/html/turkentor.html Buildings and structures completed in 1716 Gates in Germany Triumphal arches in Germany Buildings and structures in Helmstedt (district) Rebuilt buildings and structures in Germany {{LowerSaxony-struct-stub